To Fade Into Darkness
by Requiem For Absolution
Summary: After KH2. Roxas and Naminé are dying, becoming closer and closer to nothingness, almost fading completely back into darkness. They're afraid of doing so, but they've got nothing to lose except each other... Or so they think. Kairi and Sora don't agree.
1. Night

I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Do not sue me.

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**Tо Fαԃє Iиϯо Dαяҝиєss**

Chapter One: Night**  
**

The blond boy slipped quietly off the edge of the bed, onto the carpeted floor, sitting cross-legged and holding his face in his hands. His shoulders were shaking with quiet sobs, silver tears trailing down his cheeks. He couldn't help but cry, sometimes, especially when he remembered all that he had and all that he had lost. Being incarcerated inside Sora was like throwing salt in an ever-present wound; the Other had so much in his life. Even now, Sora was able to sleep and dream, whereas Roxas could only silently watch from another mental realm.

"…Roxas…?"

Sora's eyes flickered open, and he sleepily tried to wipe away the tears that were trickling down his cheeks as well. Half-asleep, but still knowing that something was dreadfully wrong with his Nobody, he blearily asked "What's wrong?"

Roxas glanced up. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to wake you up…"

"Don't worry about it. Just tell me; what's wrong?"

"You were dreaming… about Twilight Town… and Hayner, Pence and Olette. It's just hard to realize that they never really knew me… They don't remember me. I miss them. I miss Axel. The Station Tower, Struggling, sea-salt icecream… All of it."

Sora listened to this in silence, before gently offering "We could always go back."

Roxas shook his head. "No. I can't. I just – look, no."

"I'm worried about you. I know you're more upset than you're letting on… You're making me cry as well."

Roxas glanced up sharply, looking into identical blue eyes. He was gazing into his own face, his own eyes, his own soul. He quietly said "I'm sorry," before reaching up and gently cupping Sora's cheek, before fading back into the other teen's body. Sora sighed, holding his own hand to the side of his face where Roxas had touched him, before turning around and staring out of his window, the moonlight illuminating the expression of sorrow on his face in quicksilver light.

***

Kairi leaned against the balcony, shivering as a cool breeze swept through the air. Her eyes were unfocused and gummy with sleep, her hair mussed and unbrushed. She was wearing pale violet silk pyjamas and fluffy white ugg boots. Next to her stood Naminé, wearing the plain white dress she was always attired in. The two girls were so close that their arms were almost touching. Whispers of broken conversation were snatched away by the wind.

"Kairi…?"

"Mmm?" the other girl turned slightly to face her. Naminé hesitated for a moment, then reached out and simply held her hand. A moment later she whispered "I'm scared."

"Why?" Kairi looked confused. "What are you scared of?"

"You and me… We're almost the same person. I'm you, and you're me, but we're so different…"

"Is that why you drew that sketch?"

Naminé glanced back at the sketch pad, lying on Kairi's bed. It was open to a page displaying a bizarrely beautiful artwork – two parts of the page were split by a vicious bolt of lightning, half of a heart on either side. Grey shades made up the centre of the page, spiralling out to become vivid, harmonious colours. One half of the heart had been shaded in black, the other in white. The blonde girl shrugged.

"The sketch is you and me. I was formed when Sora gave you your heart back, but the energy from that is what created me… I'm the lightning, splitting your heart in half. You're a Princess, but I still took some of your heart so I could live. Once I'm gone, you'll be whole again."

"But you're still part of me. I don't want you to go." Kairi softly protested. "Together, we're absolute. It's like, you're so different to me… But you're amazingly talented at the things I'm not. You can say the sweetest things, and make them sound meaningful. Together, we're absolute…"

"Before you, Kairi, I was worthless. Even now, I still am. The only difference is that you, Riku and Sora have taught me so much. If I fade back into nothingness now, I'll be as content as I can be without a heart. As far as I can see, unless I go, you'll always be split into two… It's not fair on you."

"I don't want you to go. You're worth more than you can imagine, Iné. If you stop existing…"

"If I stop existing, you wouldn't be missing anything that you didn't already have," Naminé told her, a small smile on her face. "If we form back into one person, you won't be missing anything that you don't already have…"

Kairi paused, thinking through those two statements. She couldn't come up with any replies, so she softly pleaded "Please don't leave."

"Kairi…" Naminé shook her head slowly, before fading back into the Princess' slender body. The warm touch of her hand on Kairi's faded away. The darker-haired girl exhaled slowly, wrapping her arms around her own body and staring at the reflection of the moon on the icy, jet-black sea.


	2. Beach

**Tо Fαԃє Iиϯо Dαяҝиєss**

Chapter Two: Beach**  
**

The sun rose leisurely over the horizon, golden streaks of light adding their warmth and colour to the cool morning. Sora walked slowly down to the beach, shivering in the cold air of the morning. The stars were still in the sky from the night before, as was the moon. The sun was slowly eclipsing the lights of the night as it climbed higher in the sky.

_Why are you awake so early? _

Sora didn't jump at the unexpected question in his mind. He knew Roxas' 'voice' as well as he knew his own. He started to walk across the cold sand on the beach, before sitting down in a random spot and fixing his eyes on the sunrise.

"I couldn't sleep," he said quietly, out loud. Whenever he was talking to Roxas, he was sure to keep his voice lower than he would normally. He couldn't afford to have people considering him insane.

_Because of me? _

Sora briefly contemplated lying to Roxas, but he had the uneasy feeling that the other boy would know. So, instead, he simply admitted "Yes. And don't apologize."

The air beside Sora shimmered briefly, and Roxas appeared, almost too transparent to see. The blue eyes, identical to his, widened slightly at the sunrise before them. The blonde murmured "That's…beautiful."

Sora nodded once, leaning back on the sand and staring up at the sky. Roxas remained sitting, his arms wrapped around his knees. A sudden thought struck Sora and he asked "Couldn't you see it through my eyes?"

"Yes… but it's nothing like viewing it with your own eyes."

Sora felt slightly guilty at that, as though it was his own fault that Roxas had been in his body. The Nobody kept talking, as though he didn't realize he was saying his innermost thoughts out loud.

"Being in your body is like… being in a prison. I can see, hear, touch and smell, but it's dull; muted. Colours are reduced to shades of grey; touch is just a ghost of what it normally is. Spoken words are warped, and as for smell… well, even if you stuck your nose in a rose, I doubt I'd be able to sense it. Even now, everything's paler than it should be… I wonder if the same thing is happening to Naminé."

"I wouldn't know," Sora stood up as two familiar figures approached them across the beach, "But I think you can find out."

As the girls walked towards them, they gave the boys two identical smiles, before Kairi said "Good morning."

"Hey," Sora grinned in return. "Want to go for a walk?"

"Sure."

The clumsily constructed excuse on Sora's part left the two Nobody's behind. Roxas laughed quietly as the Others left, and Naminé sat down beside him with a small giggle.

"That wasn't obvious or anything," Roxas muttered, before leaning back on the sand and asking more seriously "How are you?"

Naminé paused for a moment, then bit her lower lip and said softly "Afraid."

"Of…?"

"Fading back into darkness. All the other Nobodies did… We didn't. I think it's finally happening."

"I don't understand why it's happening… Sora's still alive, so technically we should be able to keep living…"

"I don't know the technicalities of it… But we are dying… It's getting harder and harder to just 'wake up'… if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I know. And yeah, I'm scared." Roxas' voice was laced with regret. "There's so much in the worlds… But there was so much more when we were both free. I don't want to die…"

"We're already dead, in a sense." Naminé picked up a handful of white-gold sand, letting it trickle between her fingers.

"I guess… But we still have some form of heart, don't we?"

"I think so. But we are fading… Slowly… Fading…" the last of the sand fell onto the beach, in a small pile. Roxas took her hand, gently holding it, looking towards Sora and Kairi.

"If we fade, will we still be part of them?"

"I think so… Our powers go back to the person who originally held them, and we just … fade… I think we are part of them. Wherever we are, whatever we do. Even if we fade."

Roxas leant back on the sand, not leaving an imprint in it. "Then, if we do fade, we don't have to say goodbye?"

"We're part of each other's hearts," Naminé quoted.

"In that case… I'm not afraid. As long as you're with me."

Naminé glanced up at him, blonde hair framing her face. "Of course I will be. I'm not going without you."

"I'm glad… Should we tell them?"

"Sora and Kairi?"

"Yeah."

"Yes… But when?"

"I don't know. How about tonight? I don't want to go… Not yet."

Naminé held more firmly onto her friend's transparent hand. "I'll wait until you're ready, Roxas. I am. I'm just waiting for you…"

Roxas hugged her. "And once I'm ready, we'll tell the others?"

"Kairi won't let me go if she knows. I think… A note?"

"Sure, I guess." Roxas stretched and stood up, offering Naminé a hand as he did. The sun had now fully risen above the horizon. A new day was starting…

_And I'll only ever see one more, _Roxas mused. _Maybe that's a good thing. I was never supposed to exist, after all… I wonder if Sora will miss me. I was never anything apart from him, we're basically the same person. I am who he would be if he'd made some different choices, I guess… _

Naminé and Roxas slowly began to walk down the beach after Kairi and Sora, not leaving any footprints on the sand behind them, no mark to show they were there.


	3. Fading

**Tо Fαԃє Iиϯо Dαяҝиєss**

Chapter Three: Fading**  
**

Roxas lay beside Sora on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, his arms pillowing his head. Sora was sleeping, his face illuminated by the moonlight on the window, just as he had been last night. The only difference was that by the time it was dawn, Roxas would have disappeared. It was a weird feeling, realizing that you were going to die. Accepting death. But then, you can't really die, if you never had a life to begin with, can you?

Roxas got up off the floor, sitting beside Sora on the bed, and studying his Other, before slipping a note underneath his pillow, and walking silently out of the bedroom. The faint light shone on the letter, which read…

_Sora._

_By the time you read this, I hope to be dead. I hope that what is rightfully yours is returned to you. I hope that nothing will go wrong. _

_I hope you'll forgive me._

_You gave me half of yourself. I'm giving it back. I was never supposed to exist; I was never supposed to take what wasn't mine. The Organization was wrong. We each held half of our Other's hearts. We just didn't realize it at the time. I'm sorry, so sorry, for taking your memories… your heart… your emotions. So, I'm giving them back. I'm fading back into what I should always have been: Utter nothingness. _

_I love you, my brother, but I cannot live a half-life anymore. _

_Please forgive me… _

_-Roxas. _

***

Naminé stood alone on the beach, looking out at the sea, her eyes closed and face upturned to the sky. Her sketchpad was loosely held in her left hand, a black pencil in her right. A wave gently brushed over her bare feet, leaving sleek trails of water behind, before it ran back out to sea.

"Hey."

She turned around to face Roxas, who was holding a papou fruit. "Here. I got this for us. I mean, you can't be too sure if there's an afterlife or not, can you?"

Naminé almost laughed, but instead took the fruit and broke it into quarters. "That way they can share it too."

Roxas smiled weakly. "Are you ready then?"

Naminé inclined her head, facing the ground. "Yes," she whispered. "I left a note for Kairi."

Roxas stepped forward to hold her hand. "As did I with Sora. Then… are you ready?"

Naminé sighed, closing her eyes, beginning to fade for the last time. Roxas joined her, and then –

***

Sora woke up with a prickling, urgent sensation that something was terribly wrong. "Roxas?"

There was no reply. The Keyblade bearer felt unusually empty; an emotion he only felt when Roxas was gone. "Roxas?!"

Again, there was no reply. Beginning to panic, he sat bolt upright and found the note. "What…?"

His eyes grew wider and wider as he read it. "No," he whispered hoarsely, then screamed "NO!"

He leapt out of bed and raced downstairs, automatically heading to the beach. He saw Kairi, who had the same shocked, frantic look about her. The two didn't exchange words, instead, kept running. They saw the Nobodies, holding hands and fading. Kairi stopped dead, and then shrieked "NAMINÉ!"

Sora just kept running, tackling Roxas and pinning him to the ground. The blonde boy became solid again instantly, but Naminé was too far gone to turn back, almost invisible. Only her face could be seen, her porcelain skin and pouty mouth; her white-blonde hair. She opened her eyes, looking scared. "Roxas?"

But it was too late. A second passed, and then she was gone, completely. Air was there where the thin blonde had been only seconds ago Kairi dropped to her knees. "No! Naminé, no!"

Roxas was writhing underneath Sora. "Let me go! Let me GO!"

"No!" Sora cried, his voice cracking. "Please, Roxas, I need you!"

Roxas cried right back "I need her! I can't live this life any longer, the life of a shadow! Please, Sora, let me go!!!"

He stopped struggling, crying bitterly. "Please… Sora…"

Kairi dropped to her knees beside Roxas. "Naminé…" she whispered, then started to cry.

Sora was shaking from grief and shock, almost to the point where he couldn't keep a hold on Roxas. The blond was fading and then returning to solidity alarmingly fast, with only Sora's grip keeping him tied to reality.

"Let him go, Sora…" Kairi whispered.

Sora turned to her, cerulean eyes wide with shock and pain. "Why?"

"You wouldn't be missing anything you already had," she whispered quietly, repeating the words which Naminé had said to her before. She was holding the sketchpad, open to a page displaying the four standing together. Thin chains bound Naminé to Kairi, and Roxas to Sora, but a shattered Soul-Eater Keyblade had split Naminé and Roxas apart from the other two.

"Kairi…"

"Sora, Naminé's out there. She's waiting for him. He needs her, and she needs him. Let him go."

Sora took a ragged breath, before leaning back and getting off Roxas. The blond murmured "Thank you, Kairi…. Sora… I know why you did it… But I can make my own choices, and I've chosen to return to the darkness. You can have everything back; your heart and soul can be whole again."

"But you won't be here…"

Roxas smiled sadly, tears on his cheeks. "I'll still be with you. Just not in the way you expect. Trust me… I love you."

And with that, before Sora or Kairi could say anything more, he vanished. Sora groaned softly. "No…"

Kairi handed him Naminé's sketch pad, shoulders shaking with sobs. "Read this…"

She opened Naminé's sketchpad to another page, covered in beautifully drawn flowers and a simple poem.

_I have only slipped away into the next room.  
I am I, and you are you.  
Whatever we were to each other, we still are.  
Life means all that it was ever meant.  
It is the same as it ever way; there is unbroken continuity.  
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?_

Above them in the sky, two shooting stars streaked across the horizon.


End file.
